Renewables are on track to become the foundation of the global energy system, and the service of wind turbines is consequently playing an ever-increasing part in ensuring the sustainable, cost-competitive, and reliable energy supply we need to create a sustainable planet for future generations. With more than 100 GW of wind turbines under service, Vestas is, as the first company to reach this milestone, leading the renewable energy industry’s efforts to replace fossil-based energy sources as the backbone of our society.
"If we have any chance of getting to 50% #renewables or 100% carbon-free, our policies must be designed to deploy electron pipelines in the most efficient & safest way possible," says Chris Brown, President of Sales & Service in the US & Canada. Read more: https://t.co/pznbV3b8AB pic.twitter.com/LAMLnOAQ2M
— Vestas Wind Systems (@Vestas) August 5, 2020
Achieving 100 GW of wind turbines under service is both a testament to Vestas’ leading position within wind service solutions and the speed at which the installed capacity of wind energy and renewables is growing in the global energy system. As installed capacity has grown and continues to grow[1], Vestas’ Service Business has scaled accordingly, which has seen Service evolve from a new business unit with a high potential in 2014 into a strong and highly profitable business unit today with an even more promising outlook. Today, Vestas services more than 47.000 wind turbines, including multibrand, and has around 10,000 dedicated service employees in a global network across 69 countries.
Vestas has led the energy transition for the past four decades. Our current portfolio of 115 GW installations and 100 GW under service shows how far Vestas and wind energy has come”, says Henrik Andersen, Vestas President and CEO. “As the current global pandemic has demonstrated, renewables are fast becoming a critical component of the global energy system as well as an important element in the green recovery of the world’s economies. To this end, the service business plays an increasingly important role in ensuring a balanced and stable supply of energy to communities all over the world and in supporting a growing number of jobs globally”.
Reaching this milestone has been made possible through our strong collaboration with our customers and partners and is a testament to the dedicated work of the many service employees in Vestas. Using big data, analytics and digital tools enables us to create effective service solutions that optimize our customers’ business cases and make wind power a reliable part of the global energy mix”, says Christian Venderby, EVP for Vestas Global Service. “Service of wind turbines plays a crucial role in the global energy system and scale will continue to be critical to ensure the right value proposition for customers as the market moves toward merchant conditions and the focus on life cycle cost of wind power increases”.
The successful proliferation of wind energy and other renewables are, however, creating new demands for the industry, and the successful transition away from fossil fuels requires equipment to deliver as expected and energy systems to remain reliable. To ensure that turbine blades keep turning and energy systems are running with an increasingly large share of renewables, Vestas is at the forefront of the digital transformation, data collection and analysis. More than 140 times a day, 27,000 turbines under Vestas service thus send performance data to Vestas’ Performance and Diagnostics Centre. Through the effective use of digital tools and advanced forecasting systems, Vestas is able to deliver outstanding service and maintenance solutions both on turbine and system level as well as advanced digital analytics applications through its US based subsidiary, Utopus Insights.
With 100 GW under service, Vestas helps remove over a hundred million tonnes of CO2 every year from the atmosphere by providing reliable, sustainable and cost-effective renewable energy, meeting global energy needs without compromising our planet’s wellbeing. Based on the global average of electricity usage, 100 GW of wind energy saves around 134 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This is equivalent to removing more than 90 million passenger cars from the road every year.
Image and press courtesy of Vestas